ObjectiveTo systematically review the epidemiological characteristics and economic burden of traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) in China.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, WanFang Data, VIP and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect studies of the epidemiological characteristics and economic burden of SCI in China from January 1st, 1978 to August 30th, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies, then, meta-analysis was performed by using Stata 12.0 software.ResultsA total of 32 studies were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that: the prevalence of SCI in China was 37 persons per million per year (95%CI 21 to 53), with the average age ranged from 34.7 to 54.4 years. Men had a higher risk of SCI than Women. Motor vehicle collisions (MVCs) and falls were the two main causes of SCI. The neurological injury levels were varied, ASIA grade A was the most common and grade E was the least.ConclusionCurrent evidence shows that there is a high prevalence of SCI in China with heavy social and medical burden. The main reason of SCI is motor vehicle collisions and falls. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are needed to verify above conclusion.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the prevalence of low back pain in adult population in China, so as to provide a reliable scientific basis for further scientific research and social decision-making of low back pain.MethodsPubMed, EMbase, VIP, WanFang Data and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect the studies on prevalence of low back pain in adult population in China from inception to October 28, 2017. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data and assessed risk of bias of included studies. Then, systematic review was performed.ResultsA total of 16 studies were included. The results showed that: significant heterogeneity had been observed among the different studies. The previous affected prevalence was 7.21% to 39.0%, annual prevalence was 20.88% to 29.88%, and time period prevalence was 6.11% to 28.5%. Six studies reported the different prevalence between genders, in which only one study found a little higher prevalence in male, and the other five found higher prevalence in females than males.ConclusionsCurrent evidence shows that there is significant heterogeneity in studies on prevalence of low back pain among adults in China, and all of them are data from a single province or region. It is suggested that a national prospective survey should be conducted to provide more accurate epidemiological data.